In what is being primed to be the mother of all exhibitions, Fobally Art Gallery is preparing the stage to host eight legendary grandmasters in printmaking.
The exhibition, which will run from August 10 to 30, 2025, has been described as must-see for art patrons, connoisseurs, historians, art lover and critics. The exhibition will showcase the inspirational influence and legacies of Professors Uche Okeke, Solomon Wangboje, Bruce Onobrakpeya and Salubi Onakufe. Others are Ademola Williams, Tayo Quaye, Dr. Kunle Adeyemi and David Dale.
The exhibition’s curator, Dr. Afuevu Onakufe, expressed his excitement ahead of the group show adding that the audience would witness a wide range of printmaking techniques including plastograph, monoprint, viscosity, lino block, drypoint, serigraph, etching and more.
Onobrakpeya, Wangboje and Okeke of the Zaria Art School also known as The Zaria Rebels, were the ‘fathers of printmaking in Nigeria’ who later influenced the works of Onakufe, Williams, Quaye and Adeyemi as well as David Dale in their prints and practice through their studios and in the case of Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya, the Harmattan Workshop Series, Agbara-Otor. On their part, Okeke and Wangboje provided a lot of intellectual insights in the works of other academic and studio-based Nigerian printmakers.
Over the years, this printmaking generational influence spread to art students from the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education through internship and industrial attachment to gain professional experiences for the development and spread of printmaking across Nigeria and abroad.
These eight grandmasters are the quintessential eight renowned printmakers who have contributed greatly to the establishment of printmaking in Nigeria till date. With peculiar modern and contemporary ideas through experiments, materials and different methodical explorations in their various studios, they positioned printmaking as a grand creative art form in Nigerian art.
Speaking at the press conference heralding the exhibition and held at the gallery, the Creative Director, Fobally Art Gallery, Folasade Abiola, highlighted the pedagogical value of the exhibition. “This exhibition, we believe, is going to give birth to more artists to focus and to look into the printmaking aspect,” she added.
For Ademola Williams, the looming show is nostalgic, evoking memories of how he began his sojourn in art in 1968 when he dropped out of school and discovered Ori Olokun art workshop in Ile-Ife. With rigorous tutelage under the likes of Ola Rotimi, his well-rounded art education sparked a passion that still manifests in his visual storytelling through the metallic sculptures.
Saying he is retired but not tired, Adeyemi argued that printmaking transcends time and would remain relevant in many years to come. “You know what it is actually the printmakers right now that have the opportunity to employ more people in their studio. Printmaking is not something you can do alone. As a matter of fact, in the West, where I had done some residencies, there are people that are accredited printmakers. Printmaking creates employment, even in the art landscape,” he said.
Onobrakpeya commended the gallery for its commitment to promoting this movement in art traceable to ancient civilisations in Africa. “Print is something that has always been a part of us, of our everyday lives. When we were growing up, young girls that were set to marry used to be decorated in prints. When our parents were making clay pots, they were making prints. Print is a democratic way of creating art. Print is an art that is meant for anybody and everybody,” he said.
The event also had in attendance the Chairman, Fobally Art Gallery, Mr. Larry Segun-Lean, Nigerian-Irish artist Ben Nwosa and the CEO, Iwalewa Gallery of Art, Femi Williams.
Segun-Lean hailed the upcoming exhibition and the gallery for celebrating the print grandmasters, saying that it is important that the different art forms are not allowed to simply die off with the greats but passed down to the younger generations to carry on the torch.
